This year’s PAX Prime was big, and one of the surprise hits of the show was a little game called Firefall. It’s a team-based action-shooter set in a persistent universe (don’t call it an MMO!) from Red 5 Studios, who’ve been secretly plotting their debut for years. The more we heard about this team-based action-shooter, the more intrigued we were, so when we were given the opportunity to sit around the Tiki Bar and catch up with Game Designer David Williams, we jumped at the chance.

A couple of interesting things about Mr. Williams – he wanted to be a game developer since he was five years old! (His mum still has some of his old games – he says they’re terrible but “show great promise”…) Formally trained as an engineer, he somehow managed to escape and find himself in the dangerous territory of collectible card games like Legend of the Five Rings and the City of Heroes CCG. Now though, he focusses on designing character classes and watching football (both American and Aussie Rules!).

We also asked the all-important question for Australians… and while it’s too early to say for sure, yes, they are currently “hoping for” servers Down Under. The developers have been playing the game with built-in lag to see how that all works out for them, and – at this stage – it’s looking good. Hopefully when the beta is launched (real soon now), some Aussies will jump onine and help sort out what’s achievable from the island nation.

As things progress over at Red 5, we’ll keep an eye on them and let you know as soon as the beta is in a playable form – you just might have to line up behind me!

(Thanks to Genna, David and all at Red 5 for inviting us into their studios!)